Chapter 5: Nightmare Night
Ember excitedly woke me up.
"Aura Bliss! It's Nightmare Night day!' He shouted. I groaned and he pulled at my hoof. I pulled it back. He tried again and I lifted him with my magic. I got myself out of bed and gently put Ember back down.
"Why are you in such a big hurry?" I asked Ember. He scrambled to my side.
"We promised to help the castle help with decor!" Ember said. I sighed.
"Go put your costume on and we'll get going." I instructed. Ember quickly ran out and put his costume on while I put my own costume on. It wasn't long before we were ready to go to the castle. We hurriedly walked to the castle and found Luna once we were there. She had dressed up as Nightmare Moon. At first she startled me, but I soon remebered the first time I saw her. She had just been cured by the elements of harmony. Twilight Sparkle and company were a good 10 years older than I was.
"Clover the Clever and a Phoenix, interesting costumes." Luna said. I smiled.
"What do you want us to do?" I finally asked.
"Just set up decorations and then you are welcome to leave right after lunch." Luna instructed. I nodded and turned to leave. "And Ember, you should be happy, I left a bowl of gems for you in the kitchen." Luna said. Ember scrambled on to my back.
"Aura! Let's go!" Ember shouted gleefully. I smiled at his antics. I gave in and teleported to the kitchen. Ember ran in and ran back out in a hurry. He had a bowl of gems and a large muffin. He gave me the muffin and I held it with my magic.
"What do want to do first?" I asked. Ember thought for only a second.
"We can help at the throne room." Ember offered. I took a large bite out of the muffin.
"Alright, let's go." I said and began walking to the throne room. We finished our meals on the way and I teleported the bowl back to the kitchen. We got to the throne room and a few unicorns were slowly setting up decor. Ember jumped off my back and started to decorate the lower parts of the throne room. I used my magic to put a large amount of decorations up. The other unicorns watched me in amazement.
"How are you doing that?" One of the unicorns asked me. I held the decorations still in the air and turned to the unicorn.
"Excuse me?" I asked.
"The amount of magic, it's an amount very little unicorns can do." She said.
"You see, a unicorn's magic depends on what his or her special talent is, but when his or her special talent is magic, then his or her magic is amplified and he or she can easily learn new magic. And as you can see, my special talent is magic." I explained.
"Have you never seen her around she's..." Ember started. But I quickly levitated him up and stuffed a gem from the decorations in his mouth and held it there.
"Your what?" She asked.
"Nothing. I just help around." I said and I quickly put the decorations up and hurriedly left the room.
"What was that!?" Ember hissed at me.
"My learning with Luna is mostly a secret. Common ponies don't know about my true life." I shot back. Ember slumped down.
"I'm sorry, Aura." He grumbled. I set him on my back. I gave Ember a warm smile.
"It's okay, Ember." I nearly whispered to him. Ember gave me a smile back. "Let's go and decorate somewhere else." I offered.
"Sounds like a plan." Ember said.
The two of us spent the morning decorating rooms with other ponies. Ember and I mostly kept to ourselves and tried our best to ignore anyone else. By the time we left, the children of Canterlot were running around having fun with friends. Ember and I managed to get home without being stopped too many times. I fed Ember lunch and munched on my own lunch. I had some time to read a part of my new books before Ember rush me out to to ask for candy from ponies. Ember and I left and he hurried and got candy. As per usual, he gave some of his candy to Luna and we dropped the rest off at home. We then went to go play games. Later at night, we decided enough was enough and decided to relax at the garden. We weren't the only ones, though.
"Already done?" Discord asked us. Ember was slightly afraid to be face to face with Discord, but I gave him a welcoming smile.
"Yeah, Nightmare Night is tiring." I answered. I looked over to Ember who was shaking in fear. "Ember, you don't have to be afraid of Discord, we are good friends." I told him.
"You are friends with HIM?" Ember questioned me, panicking. I nodded my head and pulled him near me.
"He's not going to hurt you, right Discord?" I said.
"Of course not! Besides, it is really hard for me to reverse a personality with a dragon." Discord explained. Ember relaxed for a bit. I had just noticed that Discord was wearing a pair of goofy glasses and a mustache.
"So what brings you here?" I asked Discord.
"I don't want to frighten Canterlot." Discord admited. He took off his silly costume and I put my hood down.
"Understandable." I responded. Discord set the props down.
"Aura, I have something important to tell you." Discord said solemnly.
"What is it?" I asked. I was concerned by the way Discord was talking.
"You and I both know that the amount of magic you have is unusual." Discord stated.
"That is obvious!" Ember growled. I elbowed Ember to be quiet.
"You also have a lot if potential." Discord sat down next to me. I scooted over to give him some room. Ember jumped off the bench and sat near the bench instead. "And I have a question for you."
"And that is?" I drew out.
"Have you ever performed magic that surprised you or didn't expect it to happen?" Discord asked. I thought for a moment. I gently nodded. Many times that had happened, even more so when I was a filly. As an adult, I learned to control it better. "Just as I thought." Discord sighed.
"Is somethimg wrong?" I finally asked. Discord perked up.
"As the spirit of chaos I can sense when a chaos bringer is born and when he or she is near. What most don't know is that any species can be a chaos bringer." Discord explained. I saw Ember getting impatient.
"Get on with it!" Ember hissed.
"Fine! Aura Bliss, you are a chaos bringer!" Discord spat out. I inhaled deeply and jumped out of my seat.
"You're lying! It's not true!" I cried. I felt a tear run down my face. Discord stood up and tried to pick me up, but I dodged his hands.
"I am certainly not lying. I can feel it. You are a chaos bringer." Discord said.
"Stop it! I am not a chaos bringer!" I nearly shouted at Discord. Ember jumped on my back and held tight just in case.
"Aura, have I ever lied to you?" Discord said. "After my reformation." He added. I thought for a moment.
"No..." I sighed. I returned my gaze to Discord. "But you are lying to me now!" I added.
"You don't have to believe me, but please, understand that you must be careful..." Discord started.
"If I am a chaos bringer, why did Luna teach me magic and not throw me in the dungeon for the rest of my life?" I fought back.
"She is the princess of the night, not the spirit of chaos." Discord defended.
"So? She could sense it too!" I hissed.
"No, Aura, I am the only being in the world that can sense this." Discord sighed.
"I don't believe you!" I yelled. Discord sat back down.
"Fine, if you don't ever believe me, that is your choice, but if you do, find me and I will train you." Discord said and put his costume back on and left. I put my hood back on and galloped home. I locked my door behind me and took my costume off. I locked myself in my room and pondered today's events. Eventually, I heard a soft knock on my door.
"Go away!" I shouted at Ember. It was no doubt him.
"I made your favorite! Please open the door." He pleaded. I sniffed the air. I could smell the flower and fruit wraps. I turned my head from the door.
"I will not open that door." I spat out.
"Come on, Aura. I'm not leaving until open this door and talk to me." Ember said. I sighed and slowly opened the door with my magic.
"There's nothing to talk about, Ember." I said. He offered the food to me. I took it with my magic and set it on my night stand.
"About what happened today." He said. He sat on my bed and invited me to sit up next to him. I decided it would be best to do so. I sighed.
"I don't know whether or not to believe Discord or not." I sighed. "Should I push it off and not bother with anything to do with chaos or should I believe Discord and learn chaos magic from him?" I said.
"What do you want to do?" Ember asked.
"Ember, that doesn't help me in any way." I pointed out.
"Why don't we ask Luna for advice?" Ember offered.
"We can't!" I partially yelled.
"Oh right." Ember sighed. We stayed silent for a moment. "What do you want to do?"
"I already told you I don't know." I thought for a moment. "Like I said, I want to learn chaos magic, but I also just want to live a normal life."
"I personally think it would be cool if you learned chaos magic. Why waste the potential? Discord said you are a chaos bringer, so it must be true." Ember reasoned.
"I guess so." I said. It was silent again. "I'll think about it. Now, let's get some rest. We have to help clean the castle up tomorrow." I told him. Ember nodded and jumped off my bed and went to sleep in his own room. I laid back down on my bed before I remembered the food Ember had made me. I ate it quickly and went to sleep right away after.